1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved wiper arm and blade unit connector for windshield wipers, having first and second slots disposed in a lower portion and a plurality of raised portions disposed on an exterior thereof for more tightly and rotatably mounting to a rolled bushing of a pin type wiper arm at the second slot thereof. Three pairs of aligned locking members and two pairs of stoppers are disposed on a pair of front wings thereof for slidably receiving 7 mm, 8 mm, and 9 mm wide hook type wiper arms with 8.8 mm and 11 mm diameters. An angled slot and a hole for slidably receiving and locking a bayonet type wiper arm are also provided, thereby improving the performance of the windshield wiper assembly.
2. Description of Related Art
Various types of windshield wiper arm and blade unit connectors for a windshield wiper assembly are known. Such windshield wiper frame connectors include a pair of apertured ears pivotally connected to a pin of a pin type arm as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,425,089 to Quinlan et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 3,780,395 to Quinlan et al. However, such conventional art wiper frame connectors are costly to manufacture and difficult to assemble with the wiper arm and the blade unit due to their complicated structure. Furthermore, such connectors are incapable of receiving the widely used hook type arm of the windshield wiper assembly which restricts their use in many applicable circumstances.
Conventionally, the windshield wiper frame connector 1 as shown in FIG. 1 is equipped with first, second, and third slots 2, 3, and 4 and an L-shaped recess 5 for receiving both the hook type arm and the pin type arm. However, the windshield wiper frame connector 1 suffers from a number of problems. For example, the difference in depth between the first slot 2 of a pin of the blade unit and the second slot 3 of a roller bushing of the pin type arm causes instability when the pin type arm is connected to the wiper frame connector 1. Moreover, when the connector receives a hook type wiper arm, the connector 1 lacks any locking members that would securely lock the hook type arm to the wiper frame connector 1. The body 6 of the wiper frame connector 1 also uses much material and is heavy in weight. These characteristics and above stated problems are disadvantages in achieving an efficient and economical windshield wiper assembly.
In order to avoid such problems, U.S. Pat. No. 5,289,608, issued to the present inventor, discloses a windshield wiper frame connector for use in a windshield wiper assembly for motor vehicles which includes a pair of slots, two pair of raised portions, and a pair of stoppers on a pair of sidewalls for forming two pairs of spaces, upper and lower elongated seats, and an angled slot and a hole, whereby a hook type wiper arm, or a pin type wiper arm, or a bayonet type wiper arm can be easily connected to a blade.
The present Applicant is also prosecuting other U.S. patent applications; Ser. No. 08/118,663, filed on Sep. 10, 1993 and Ser. No. 08/180,387, filed on Jan. 12, 1994, which disclose a windshield wiper frame connector for use in a windshield wiper assembly for motor vehicles which accommodates different size wiper arms, wherein the wiper frame connector includes a pair of slots, three pairs of raised portions and a pair of stoppers on a pair of sidewalls for forming two pairs of spaces, upper and lower elongated seats, and an angled slot, a hole, and a bayonet lock tongue whereby a hook type wiper arm, or a pin type wiper arm, or a bayonet type wiper arm can be easily connected to a blade unit.
However, these wiper frame connectors cannot accommodate different size wiper arms such as 9 mm width, 11 mm diameter and 4 mm thickness for mostly European vehicles, 9 mm width, 8.4 mm diameter and 3 mm thickness for most other vehicles, and 7 mm and 8 mm width standard hooks, as well as a bayonet type wiper having an angle of about 17.degree..